A shadow's past
by Elandil
Summary: What would happen if Gaara was not as alone as he first thought? What if there was someone secretly rooting for him from the shadows? What if that person were the princess of the lightning country?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

When I was younger, only about 6 or 7, my father took me to the wind country, to visit the hidden village of the sand. While there, I was not meant to wander, they said that it was not safe, but if I hadn't I would never have met you!

We sent so long together that summer, fighting and talking, you helping me with my training, me helping you with yours… but how did that all end?

Sure enough, 9 years have passed and we have both grown older, stronger and wiser, from what I have seen, you have become a fine shinobi. I always kept tabs on you, id you do the same for me? I did not expect to meet you again in this way, but it might be fun in its self, fate has a funny way of playing with things like that!

You said that I was your first friend and you were mine, which is why I remember you, do you remember me? I still use the technique you taught me, it is one of my signature moves, how about the one I taught you? Do you use it? Do you even remember?

A long time has passed, we have both changed, I am not surprised that you do not recognise me, but I can always recognise you! Your aura is special!

I want to go over and talk to you, but you act as though you do not know me… I shall follow your lead then, from now on, we are strangers. This is our first meeting. We are now competitors in the exam. Good bye Gaara, my first true friend!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

(Teru's Pov)

"…kashima, hey Wakashima! Hey! WAKE UP!"

Ugh, did they have to be this loud so early in the morning? Today was a holiday for us, our team had just gotten back from a 2 week escort mission, so then why was Mitsue shouting in my ear? I thought about getting up and drop kick my annoying team mate out of the window, but, as tempting as that idea was, it would not be practical so instead I just laid their feigning sleep, wondering how the family guards didn't hear this nuisance.

"Come ON! If we don't get there soon, the Raikage-sama will give the mission to squad 4 and I don't want to lose out to Akaba again!"

Well, at least now I knew what had got this runt into such a tiz, whenever the little prince of the Retsu family got involved, Mitsue was nothing but competitive. This also meant that there was no chance of getting a lay in this morning. Might as well stop the charade now before I got a headache from the continuous racket.

"Fine, fine, I'm getting up, have you gone and made this much fuss over at Maho's house or did you get kicked out?"

That knocked away the stupid grin, but the petulant plant that took its place was just as annoying, looks like I guessed right, or close anyway.

"No, she kicked me out through the window!"

As if to illustrate the point, a few shards of glass fell out of the kid's arms as they gestured. Try as I might to stop it, the image of this little punk going flying out of a 4 story window suddenly popped into my head and prevented me from doing anything but laugh in Mitsue's face for the next couple of minutes. I guess it would have continued like this if it weren't for the sudden clamour outside my door as someone stormed past, it took a while for us to actually work out what they were saying, but even when we did, the indignant look on Mitsue's face was enough to set me off again.

"The intruder came this way keep you eyes open for her!"

In a few seconds, a pair of footsteps came closer to my door and it was obvious that they were going to come into my room to check for the "girl" that broke in. Quick as a flash, the "girl" jumped out to the tree by my window and disappeared. Deciding that I didn't want to answer 20 questions about my friend's inappropriate entrance, I climbed back into bed, pretending to have been woken up by the fuss in the hallway.

"Teru-sama, has anyone been in here?"

"Only you idiots. Now I need to get dress, GET OUT!"

Just to make sure they really did leave, I chucked a few objects as well, but nothing enough to hurt them…seriously. As soon as they went, I began to get ready for what was soon to be an annoyingly busy day off of work.

Roughly about a half hour later, Mitsue, Maho and I were waiting in the large hall way in front of the Raikage's office like we had been directed too. I guess that it is only natural that we were a little giddy at this point, this was the first time that the Raikage-sama had asked for us personally, he tended to just ignore us because of Maho, so this was like some kind of major achievement for us, even if it did mean losing our holiday.

After standing like this for a little while, the doors of the study finally opened and we were called inside to stand in front of the old man's desk as he surveyed us over his steeped fingers, it was a bit uncomfortable, but still, we put up with it. Though he did not move his head, or any part of his body really, the head of our village suddenly began talking to us like it was the most natural thing ever, like the time when our team had just been formed and our little princess invited us all round to her house to meet up. The only thing is, this time, instead of sounding like the father he was last time we met him, this time he sounded exactly like the role he was playing now, our boss.

"Members of squad 12, I have a very important request to make off you and, as this could be quite a dangerous mission, you have every right to decline it if you so whish."

He stopped for breath there as if pausing for dramatic effect, or at least that's what it felt like for me, I don't know about the others.

"In a week's time, the annual Chuunin exam will be held in Konoha, in the village of flame, and you three have been chosen to represent our village. This opportunity is also good for you as it means that you may be able to advance to a higher rank so think it over carefully."

A chance to become a Chuunin? I could almost see Mitsue bouncing up and down with excitement, but this didn't make sense. In our village, sure enough we do still have shinobi with the normal ranks (Genin, Chuunin, Jounin) but the levels were pretty much a moot point. Most of our fighters were Genin, but some of them were stronger than the ones ranked Jounin, so what was the point in sending us off to some stupid exam?

Maho seemed to be keeping pace with my thoughts again as it was her that broached the question first;

"So… what's the catch old man?"

I think that she is the only one able to get away with being that rude to the Raikage-sama, but then, it is her we are talking about, and the guilty look on his face was enough to settle all doubt that he had had an ulterior motive all along.

"Well, there has been a prediction made by the head of the Wakashima family that war will break out between the villages of sound and leaf. As the flame country is our ally, it is our duty to help them. However, we are the only ones that know this fact and so it would look like an act of provocation to send our shinobi in without invitation and I cannot travel with a heavy guard either. This is the only way we found of getting around that. Of course, you won't be sent alone, squad 5 is going with you…"

The rest of what he was saying was lost on me and all I really registered was the fact that we were about to be shoved into no man's land, and our only back up was my little brother's team… Perfect!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

(Maho's PoV)

Once all was said and done, we were immediately sent of to prepare for the journey, not that we really had much _to _prepare apart form gathering some weapons we would need and some extra clothes. The village would prepare the rest for us. While the Mitsue was bouncing around and making a nuisance of himself, Teru and I seemed to be thinking along the same lines as she immediately called me to the side once we had left the building.

"You do know this means that we are effectively going to be the Raikage's guards in a war zone right? Why would they do that if it was just a battle between 2 villages? There must be more going on than we were told… Why didn't I see this?"

Her face seemed to be a mixture of concentration and exasperation while her eyes kept flickering from their normal green to bright violet as she scanned the future looking for the reason for our mission. The Wakashima clan are one of our village's oldest noble families and they are well respected for their unique jutsu that allowed them to see bits of the near future. The fact that she had not seen this then was rather uncomfortable for Teru, she was not used to surprises.

"Welcome to the world that the rest of us experience. You do know that, to normal people, being unaware of these sorts of events is normal?"

Hmm looked like I upset her… oh well!

Half an hour later, we were all gathered by the gate, waiting for our teacher/ mentor/ team leader to show up, something that we were not used to as it was normally him who was dragging us to which ever place we were meant to be gathering. While we were waiting, the Raikage decided to pull me aside just to play the role of the worried father again, checking if I had everything, telling me to be careful, just the normal thing. However, just as I was about to go back to join the others, he bent down and grabbed me in an embrace that was beyond the normal protocol for him. This new position placed his lips next to my ear, and I'm willing to bet that my hair blocked his face from view because straight away he began to speak quickly in a hushed voice;

"While there, I am going to ask you to keep a close eye on the shinobi from the sand village, do not trust them. Also, do not reveal what you are there for, just pretend to be Genin sent for the exam, we must not give the any warning, but I want them to fear you, they might leek some information if they are scared!"

Uh… What? Unfortunately, that was the only explanation I got before he released me and started walking towards the others, getting ready to give the normal speech that he gave to all teams going on a long mission, but first he had to go grab my brother Kei, I wonder if he was giving him the same advice? Or maybe he was telling him to keep a close eye on me? He really did have trust issues with me just because of one visit to the sand village where I decided to escape at one point… well, what ever.

Once everyone had gathered, (all 8 of us including the Jounin that acted as teachers) we all formed a loose semi-circle around our village leader while we waited for him to speak and then let us go. The funny thing was, even though this was probably going to be the most dangerous mission we had ever been sent on, there was an undeniable feeling of excitement running round the circle, so much so that Mitsue was finding it hard to stand still, but then, that was kind of normal for the girly looking healer. I can't blame him though, I also wanted to be off as soon as possible, but we still had to wait upon the old man's leisure before we would be allowed to exit the gate.

Eventually, the speech did come, the one where he told us to fight our hardest, prove our skill and return, robed with success, but right at the end, he said something that we were not expecting. Normally he tells us to be silent and swift as the shadows in the night so his sudden encouragement to, "prove to the world just why the lightning shinobi should be feared" but also to "look after one another" was rather shocking.

Shinobi, written by placing the character for heart over the one for sword. We are the ones who swallowed our swords to cut out our hearts. The ones who never seek glory from battle. Who are nothing but tools for their village and our masters. So why then is he telling us to look after each other on the battle field?

While we were all still figuring out our strange orders, we were all handed passes which were our ticket allowing us to enter Konoha peacefully and before long, we all set off, running through the trees that littler the mountain slopes of our home. Before long we would arrive and then we would have to play the roles given to us. However, for now, we had the world around us hiding us from view and we could be whoever we wanted to be, is there any wonder then, that the whole time travelling was spent racing, fighting and competing while moving?

Anyway, the journey was fun, but the second that the large gates of Konoha came into view, we all grew serious… this was it!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

(Mitsue's PoV)

The gates of Konoha were HUGE, I could have gone through there with Teru on my shoulders and we still wouldn't have even made half way of the height. Not that Teru would actually allow me to pick her up, the little miss kill joy in my team would probably have said that it was improper for this kind of mission. What ever, is what I say to that, if you spend all your time worrying about orders and appearances, how would you ever enjoy your life? No, best to live in the moment and deal with the consequences I say!

Sensei was gathering everyone around him, but it looked like it was going to be one of his long, boring lectures like the one the old man gave us before we left so I decided it would be more fun to explore this new village, even though I knew I would probably be punished for this later. Still, I don't thin they would punish me TOO much before such an important mission…

All the way here I had been competing with Yuki and, even though she was a girl, I guess she was all right, slower than me, but alright. On the journey, it also kind of became obvious that great minds really do think alike, as she now proved here by catching my eye and gesturing towards the impressive entrance way, she didn't even have to say a word.

Within a second, we were both away from the others and covering the ground quickly so that we wouldn't be stopped, but, of course, when we reached the gate, we had to show them our passes. Even if we were from an allied country, they were still going to make sure that we weren't going to attack them, but then, why would we enter through the front door so to speak? Or were some people really that dumb?

The inside of the village was really surprising, at home we would have small, stone buildings that blended into the mountain side and the clouds making us invisible, but here, here they had tall buildings made of wood and huge, ten foot tall poles in the streets connected by wires. It must be really nice to have so many shinobi serving your village that you don't even have to worry about concealing yourself, they even had some of the oldest shinobi families… Not that that matters, even someone's bloodline isn't all powerful, what you really need for good strength in battle is effort, hard work conquers everything!

Yuki started puling on my arm again, grinning slyly and telling me that she wanted to race to the centre of the village, looked like she hadn't had enough on the road, well, they can't call me rude for ignoring a lady's wishes, if she wanted to be beaten again, who was I to tell her no? However, we were both quite tired by this point (we really had been racing the whole way here) and it wasn't long before her foot slipped on one of the strangely slanted roofs, sending her falling into the streets. Ordinarily, I would have laughed from the higher ground at this anyway, but this time she fell into someone and, as this wasn't even our village, I guessed I should go down and apologise.

I moved closer to the place where she had fallen, edging over to the… well, edge, but just before I let myself drop, I felt a weird presence near her which made me stop and listen instead. Who ever she had fallen into was in a really bad mood and for some reason; they seemed to almost bleed killing intent, something that even I knew better than to walk into.

From closer inspection, I could see that the person below us was actually a member of the hidden sand village (well I guessed he was from the symbol on the weird thing on his back), which means he was just as much of a stranger to Konoha as we were, but from his stance you would think that he owned the place. The person in question was about the same age as us, if not a year or 2 younger, and he was still quite short for his age I bet. I was looking at him from the back, and as I said, he was wearing a strange type of gourd thing on his back, so it was hard to make ouch much else, other than his black clothes, short red hair and, oh, his murderous aura which seemed to give out the smell of blood.

Unfortunately, though Yuki was actually quite bright, she didn't really have very strong senses, or much of an intuition really, so in this situation she was totally clueless about our new friend. Instead of jumping up and running away like any normal person would, she just sat there rubbing her head and laughing like an idiot. I new that I should probably go and save her, but for some reason, my body seemed to be frozen in place, like the guy's strange atmosphere had scared me stiff, so all I could do was crouch there and watch. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to run off alone in an unknown place after all, damn sensei was going to lecture us about this later.

As I watched, the sand guy (I could definitely tell that he was from the sand now thanks to the shiny, gritty stuff that was coming out of his gourd) began to step towards the stupid girl on the floor and it looked like he was doing some strange clenching motion with his hand. Without any apparent prompting, the sand that had currently been floating harmlessly around him, started heading towards my friend, beginning to wrap around her legs and them moving its way up her body. I really did not like where this was going, but as I already said, I didn't really have much control over my motor functions at the moment, so all I could do was watch helplessly as the sand completely covered her.

Fast as anything, the guy suddenly clapped his hands together and the sand seemed to condense in. This time, my body actually obeyed the commands that came from my head and I turned away from the scene of what I was pretty sure was about to become a pretty gruesome murder, squeezing my eyes shut to avoid having to see anything at all. I was so caught up in images of crushing and spurting blood that I wasn't really paying that much attention to my surroundings so it took Yuki a little while (and a rather powerful bash to the head) to actually gain my attention. Even when she had, all I could do was sit there and stare at her in wonder, wasn't she supposed to be dead?

It was at this point that I learned 2 very important things about this small girl that I had neglected to notice earlier,, the first being that she was very good at illusionary techniques and that she had been with the others all along, sending one of her clones with me, and the second was that she seemed to be completely suicidal as, with a quick grin, she then decided to share her belief that;

"With strong people like that, this mission was going to be incredibly interesting."

Masochist!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

(Teru's PoV)

We were just about to receive our last instructions from sensei before entering Konoha when, surprise, surprise that idiot Mitsue decided that he was going to run off into the village completely unprotected and uninformed just like always. That's why I said that he would be next to useless on this mission, not that anyone ever listens to me, but it's a good feeling to know that I was right anyway. Because of the way that she had acted on the journey, I guess I kind of expected Yuki to go with the twit, but for some reason she stayed with us, grinning like a moron, not that there was much change there.

Deciding that it would be safe enough to just let him tire himself out instead of going looking for him, we left Mitsue to his own devices until the briefing had been finished, I mean, what trouble could he find in this place when we had been invited in? Knowing our little brat however, that was not that comforting of an argument as the idiot could get attacked when he was just out walking a stupid cat for god's sake. Still it wouldn't be our fault if he died by one of his own mistake. For some reason, I found that mental image hugely enjoyable actually.

Once we were finally allowed to go off by ourselves, Maho and I decided, much against my will, to go and find the annoying little monkey that it was our, unofficial, job to baby sit, especially as our entire group would be required to register for the exam in a few hours. That's why we decided to split up and meet back in a short while, Konoha was a big place, we needed to cover a large area in a short space of time. Yuki decided to help us with this however, so we soon found him.

By the time I got there, the others had already arrived, but the scene didn't make any sense other than that. The two lunatics that could turn practically anything into a joke, were sat on the roof with serious expressions on their faces for the first time in… well, for the first time ever, and Maho was… smiling? What did I miss? Instead of asking straight out, I walked over to the small group of people and followed their gaze over the edge of the surface that supported us, right into the upturned eyes of a small boy with bloody coloured hair who immediately switched his gaze to me.

I'm not joking, the second our eyes met, I felt like someone had just smashed something heavy into my stomach and all my breath left me at once, such a pity as I recently seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. This guy's killing intent was obvious, he wasn't even trying to hide it, even though there was a good 20ft (and a vertical drop) between us, it felt like he had thrust a sword through my abdomen. I tried to look down to check that he hadn't, but I soon found that I couldn't move, I was paralyzed, turn to stone by fear. This was not something I was used to, it made me feel powerless. I didn't like it.

The only one of our group who seemed to be unaffected by this tense atmosphere was Maho, something she quickly proved by doubling over in inexplicable laughter, making us all jump and breaking what ever spell this guy had been trying to cast. With this he simply glared at us before walking off down the street and disappearing around the corner. Confused, I turned to our team leader for an explanation, instead she just shrugged and said, "I know him" before turning on the spot and running off towards the designated meeting place. I didn't know what shocked me most, the fact that this guy had managed to scare me senseless or the fact that our little princess knew him, but I knew which one I feared most. If Maho had said that without any prompting or threats, it meant that she acknowledged him as a shinobi, something that was an incredibly rare event in itself.

Silently, the rest of us followed her to the centre of town where we met up with our teachers, though I was not really paying attention to our movements. This encounter had opened my eyes to the fact that this mission would not be as easy as we had first imagined, after all, even the Raikage-sama had warned us that we would need to be careful. Although my body was with my friends, I do not remember much else of what happened that day, after all, in my head I was somewhere else. I was taking my job seriously now. The images that my eyes were seeing were snippets of the near future. Our future. A red future filled with blood.


End file.
